True Words by Kelly Garcia

“Your Word is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it.” Psalm 119:140 AMPC

I remember those wonderful moments of becoming a Christian and of becoming fully surrendered to God. It’s as if one was the betrothal and the second was the marriage. I was so wonderfully filled with the love of God, I couldn’t wait to tell everyone. A year later, running along the beach after our single-women’s camp-out worship time, I fell to my knees in beautiful surrender to my amazing Savior, declaring these words: “I just want to love You! I just want to go to church! I just want to read Your Word! I don’t want any boyfriends; I just want to love you!” So said my eighteen-year-old-heart in what might look like reciprocal vows with this wonderful God who only asks that we love Him and love others.

“The entrance of Your word gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” Psalm 119:130 Over the course of the forty years since those days, I have been engaged in numerous Bible studies in addition to my independent study of God’s Word.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

I love reading, copying, studying, teaching, memorizing, reciting, and sharing God’s Word. You might say I marinated in it throughout the years. The Lord certainly used it to lead me and instruct me, and yes, correct me too! I belabor the point to make clear that the only way we would recognize a counterfeit is if we truly know the original. That’s how the experts can spot fake money, after all. They know the authentic well enough to spot a phony.

“If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written…” Here in Matthew 4:6, we see the Tempter speaking God’s word to the Son of God. He was speaking the truth that “‘He will give His angels charge over You,’ and ‘In their hands they shall bear You up, lest You dash Your foot against a stone.’” To which Jesus answered in verse seven, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord Your God.’” In our present world we may not have temptations so clearly defined for us, nor is the truth clearly presented. We have to know the truth of God’s word to fight against the wiles of the devil, and many times, he comes looking like the truth.

In our grandest efforts to love God and love each other, we try to execute that wonderful list called “The Fruit of the Spirit”, found in Galatians 5:22: “… love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” But sometimes love is difficult. Relationships can struggle under the strain of half-truths, or sometimes even manipulation. The word of God can be strangled by misuse. I found myself confused, wondering, “Why does what she/he says sound right, but feel wrong?”

Throughout many years of a struggle to understand this quandary, involving many friends, family, and counselors, it was always the Word of God that I returned to for instruction and direction, because when we are dealing with hidden truths we need the Holy Spirit to illuminate the specific truth and instruction that applies to particular circumstances. That’s why Jesus said in John 14:26: “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things…”

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Corinthians 13:1) If I don’t have love, I am nothing, Paul concluded at the end of verse two. Believers and unbelievers alike know the word of God and might even be inclined to use it in a particular circumstance, but if they don’t have love, then they are not speaking with God’s authority in their circumstance. Some people are actually using God’s word to control others. This is manipulation and oppression. We need to be like Jesus who resisted and even rebuked the devil by rightly using God’s word in truth. He stood in the truth and used the truth to protect Himself, to keep Himself from falling to the tempter’s plans to destroy Jesus’s destiny.

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits,” John said in 1 John 4:1, “whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Jesus instructed, “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men…” (Matthew 10:16) In all these instructions of how to live righteously in a difficult world where we need to be very discerning, we can also rest in the truth that the Holy Spirit will give us what words to speak (Matthew 10: 20) or actions to take when faced with any difficulty. We are living in a dark hour where truth is relative, and right is becoming wrong, and wrong is being hailed as right. There is only one truth and we need to walk in the light of that Truth, being fully convinced in our hearts to have the courage to declare it. Jesus warned of what relationships would look like in the last days (Luke 12:53), and even though many may fall away from the truth, we still need to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. We still need to love others and be long suffering in the hopes that many would be saved. Struggle though we might, Jesus is still the light of the world, and it’s in Him that we place our trust. Trust in Him and His word. Ask for His direction and counsel and the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13)

I speak and write in stories, displaying what I see through words that envelope the heart. The God of heaven and the people and the world He created are best enjoyed through eyes of excitement and hearts of wonder, so it is my joy to spend hours and days at a time allowing my pen to flow with such themes. I have thoroughly enjoyed my seasons of mothering and homeschooling my five children and babysitting my two grandchildren, and I might presently have more than one cat at my side. Visit my Blog at http:// godspeak.home.blog/2020/06/03/lets-rebuild/